Category: neat stuff

It’s that time of year again, it’s a month filled with fun rides and events, it’s Bike Month!! May is going to be a GREAT month for biking in Eugene and Springfield. It’s a good time for fair-weather cyclists to roll those steads out of the garage and for everyone who rides bikes to celebrate together.

A special thanks to the organizers and supporters of May is Bike Month. Along with WeBikeEugene volunteers and community members these partners help make this month of events come together and happen!

Eugene Mayor, Lucy Vinis, has made an official proclamation that “May is Bike Month”. She points to the economic, environmental and health benefits that bikes bring to Eugene and its residents. She also notes the amazing bike community that Eugene has developed over the decades.

We’re excited to be part of bringing all the events together into this month-long event and are excited to have it growing each year.

Join us as Mayor Vinis shares the official proclamation and starts off the May is Bike Month celebration at the Kick-off Party and Bike Share Open House on Monday, May 1st at the Broadway Commerce Center (44 W Broadway) from 4-6pm.

Wheelys, based in Switzerland, now has more than 200 of these special café bikes in over 45 countries, but the DeAngelises are only the second in Oregon to purchase a bike. Another operator in Beaverton is also just getting started. There are about five bikes operating the United States now, with others attempting to open but dealing with permitting and regulation issues.

The DeAngelises purchased their bike last summer and though they had hoped to open by this past fall, preparations and permitting have taken some time. They now hope to do a “soft opening” this Spring and be ready to share the coffee-bike love by this Summer. Continue reading “New Bike Coffee Cart Coming to Eugene”

Via Friends of Trees:If you are pumped on biking and want to bring your bike out to a planting event – we would love that! Bicycling crews transport all of the trees, tools and people to each planting site during neighborhood planting events. Folks with bike trailers and racks are encouraged, though anyone with a bike is welcome to plant with us!

Friends of Trees provides trained planting guidance as well as a thoughtful planting route that won’t take you up steep hills, along busy highways, nor terribly long distances with your heavy loads of trees and tools. After every planting, we invite you to warm up at our potluck lunch with tasty soups and other homemade treats.

Last year we had a bike team at every planting and this year we plan on having two! I am here to invite you all, to bask in the awesomeness of pedal-powered tree-planting with Friends of Trees! With our first bike event taking place one month from now in November, I wanted to make sure you all got our schedule of events sooner than later.
Trailers, bungees, panniers, oh my! Bike planters always are an awesome scene, come planting morning.
If you have friends who may want to join you by bike this season – please invite them and send them the sign-up link! We are hoping to have more planting teams this season than ever before. The more bikes and trailers that show up, the better!

Please reach out to us if you have any questions about biking at our events, or volunteering with Friends of Trees in general. You may reach us at Eugenetrees@FriendsofTrees.org or 541-632-3683.

How do you get a 672 lb. rock from Lane Forest Products to your house? You can either pay them $75 and have it delivered by truck to the end of your driveway (and then what?)…or you can put it in a bike trailer and have it delivered to your back yard.

I wanted to make a water feature in my backyard so I purchased a beautiful basalt column from Lane Forest Products a few weeks ago and had them put it on hold while I arranged delivery with Pedalers Express, a human-powered delivery service affiliated with the Center for Appropriate Transport. This was an unusual delivery so I called Lane Forest Products with a question about loading the rock into the trailer. The conversation went something like this:

Me: “Hi, I bought a basalt column from you recently and I wanted to make sure the forklift tines would be narrow enough to slide the rock into a cargo trailer.”

Lane Forest Products: “Definitely, we can do it–what kind of trailer have you got?”

Lane Forest Products: “You’re not going to move a 672 lb rock with a bike.”

Me: “Yes, I am.”

Here’s how it’s done:

Step 1: Buy the rockStep 2: Load it onto a specially designed flat bed cargo trailerStep 3: Hire Pedaler’s Express to move the rock. Here’s John gaining momentum…Step 4: Have Jan give John a little help over the Autzen footbridge!Step 5: Get some help wheeling the rock into your yard (1″ of clearance!)

Step 6: Enjoy the rock in its new home! (Note the hummingbird about to take a drink)

Do you ride a bike?
Do you know someone who rides a bike?
Or do you know someone that knows someone that saw a Kevin Bacon movie with a bike in it?
If so this post applies to you!

We need members of our community to download and use the ORCycle smart phone app.

This app lets you log your bicycle route and pinpoint safety problems along your route. Additional functionality lets you plot bicycle safety concerns anywhere in the region! All you have to do is download the app and use it!

These data will be used in the upcoming CLMPO/Lane County Safety and Security plan, bicycle route choice modeling, and general system operations.

Starting this week, we are initiating as big of public outreach push as we can, getting the word out to the public and our partners through social media, official notification, work of mouth, and this email blast! This post is only helpful if you do one of two things:

Other things you can do to help, become a twitter follower, like us on Facebook, share this email or our social media links with your friends, oh and download and use the app!

In case you needed a motive other than civic duty , users that log trips will be entered into a drawing for free stuff from local bike shops and retailers, though I suspect duty to one’s community will be sufficient.

Take a picture at an event, tag it #EugBikeMonth. More pics, more chances of winning

May is going to be a GREAT month for biking in Eugene! It’s a good time for fair-weather cyclists to roll those steads out of the garage and get back on two wheels and for everyone who rides bikes to celebrate together. With so many events happening it’s the perfect time to try out something new too! Usually ride for recreation? Try out commuting! Casual cyclist who only rides for errands? Try a longer recreational ride! Want to get your kids riding more? We’ve got events for you! In this post you can find a rundown of some of the great events happening in Eugene/Springfield throughout Bike Month. Like any bike event in Eugene these can also be found on the Community Bike Calendar (a WeBikeEugene project). If you know of other bike events going on during May let us know and we’ll get them up on this list and onto the calendar!

Bike Month Supporters

Throughout all of May you can support the Safe Routes to School “Bike Safety Education Program” by both volunteering at one of the community rides held throughout all three school districts AND by buying your lunch at Wrap City in Kesey Square. Throughout the month of May, Wrap City will be donating a percentage of all of it’s sales to SRTS! May happens to be Walk + Bike to School Challenge month too and while we are challenging our students to walk and bike more we challenge the community to support our efforts by volunteering and buying local! If you’d like to take your own challenge you can participate in the Business Commute Challenge. Form a team at your workplace, win some great prizes, and challenge your co-workers and friends to discover the joys of biking!

Bike Share may be coming to Eugene. Last year there was a lot of movement and discussion of bringing bike share to Eugene. A bike share feasibility study was completed, the University of Oregon moved forward with a four station, forty bike project, and at the same time the City of Eugene applied for funding from ConnectOregon for it’s portion of a bike share system. However, also in 2014 the University project has been stalled with some red tape and the City didn’t receive the ConnectOregon funds. However, it looks like 2015 might be the year that bike share makes a big move forward in Eugene. The ConnectOregon funds might just happen and with them a renewed push from the newly hired University of Oregon Bike Program Director could bring a complete system to Eugene sooner rather than later. Here’s how it might happen: Continue reading “Eugene One Pedal Stroke Closer to Bikeshare”

Below is a press release and flyer that ODOT released last week about a new app they’ve helped develop that will give planners and researchers data from volunteers who it on their smartphones. Not only will it collect route selection and reason for choosing certain routes but it also allows users to give feedback about crashes, safety or infrastructure issues. Josh Roll from LCOG, who helped develop the local CycleLane app is on the advisory committee for this new app and he’s excited about the potential of this new tool for cyclists throughout the state. ODOT will pass the data onto LCOG and city agencies to help them in their planning efforts.

I’ve used the app for a couple days now, including for my commute and a ride out to Mt. Pisgah. Once you finish a route and go to save it you’re asked a few questions about the route and why you choose it and different questions about the route. I haven’t used it to report any hazards or issues yet. I would still use the iBikeEugene app to report leaves or other road hazards locally as I know those get more immediate response from the city but this new app looks like a great tool. The more people use it the better data we have so download the app and help some planners out.

New ‘ORcycle app’ lets bicycle riders share
valuable information

Planners, researchers will use voluntary data to help make decisions

SALEM — Gathering valuable data about how bicyclists use the transportation system has always been a challenge. Starting Nov. 10, a new Smartphone app created by the Transportation Technology and People (TTP) lab at Portland State University, in partnership with ODOT, will provide data that can help planners and others make decisions based on users’ feedback and facts never before gathered in one place. The goal of the app, called ORcycle, is to get cycling data from people who ride bicycles voluntarily contributing via their Smartphone, from anywhere in the state.

ORcycle lets participants record cycling trips, display maps of the rides, and provide feedback regarding crashes, safety, or infrastructure issues – data which transportation planners currently lack in sufficient quantity. Prior to ORcycle, there was no systematic way to receive feedback regarding bicycle route safety or riders’ comfort level with bike lanes, routes, signals, etc. By opening the app and recording data whenever convenient, riders will be submitting data to the ORcycle program. Transportation planners across the state will then be able to access the aggregated data to better design, build or upgrade bicycle facilities and other bicycle-related projects.